LONDON, ONT. -- The number of COVID-19 inpatients at London Health Sciences (LHSC) has dipped to levels not seen since the fall as the region drops below 100 active cases.

The hospital is now reporting that they have nine inpatients currently in their care, with fewer than five in the ICU.

LHSC only reports the specific number of inpatients if it is above five.

It was late October when that number climbed above five for the first time since June.

Since then the community has been hit with a second wave of infections which saw inpatient numbers spike.

Several outbreaks at the hospital saw the number of patients rise exponentially with more than 100 staff cases, dozens of patients, and 28 deaths.

It wasn’t until Feb. 4 that the hospital was officially declared outbreak free.

London has seen a dramatic drop in new COVID-19 cases over the last several weeks with speculation that the region will soon enter the Orange or even Yellow zones.

Number of patients in the hospital is one factor considered when determining which zone a region will be in.

On Thursday the Middlesex-London Health Unit reported just eight new cases of COVID-19 for the region and no new deaths.

There are 93 active cases in the community to date.

The Middlesex-London region has had a total 6,133 cases since the start of the pandemic with 5,859 recoveries and 181 deaths.

There are five active outbreaks remaining in long-term care and retirement facilities and three active cases in area schools.

Southwestern Public Health recorded 15 new cases Thursday after reporting zero cases Wednesday.

Pronvincially there was less than 1,100 recorded on Thursday and 23 deaths.

Here are the cases by region:

  • Elgin-Oxford: 15 new, 40 active, 2,478 total, 2,371 resolved, 67 deaths
  • Haldimand-Norfolk: two new, 27 active, 1412 total, 1341 resolved, 39 deaths
  • Grey-Bruce: two new, 11 active, 697 total, 684 resolved, two deaths (one new)
  • Huron-Perth: seven new, 18 active, 1,320 total, 1,253 resolved, 49 deaths
  • Sarnia-Lambton: seven new, 65 active, 2045 total, 1934 resolved, 46 deaths